8 posts categorized "Chicago Spire"

September 29, 2009

It's been nearly a year since the news broke that Santiago Calatrava had filed a big lien against Garrett Kelleher, the developer of the Calatrava-designed Chicago Spire. Now, Calatrava is returning to Chicago, though Kelleher is presumably not ready to fork over the millions that the architect said he was owed in fees.

Instead, the Spanish-born Calatrava will be one of the star attractions at an Oct. 7 conference put on by the Cervantes Institute to celebrate the official opening of its new home at 31 W. Ohio St. (corner of Ohio and Dearborn Streets). He'll be giving a lecture titled--what else?--"Beyond the Spire."

I'm told by the organizers that Spanish Crown Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia will be at the Cervantes Center for ceremonies earlier in the day. Calatrava's lecture will be followed by an open discussion with people attending the event. The lecture is at the Cervantes Institute auditorium at 6 p.m. I'll find out later Tuesday if there is an admission fee and whether the event is open to the public.

UPDATE: The Cervantes Institute will offer tickets for Calatrava's lecture to guests attending its morning program with the Spanish royals as well as others on its mailing list. The public is also invited to attend Calatrava's talk and will be admitted provided seats are available. If the institute's auditorium, which has about 160 seats, is full, people will be able to watch the program on televisions in the institute's classrooms.

October 31, 2008

With major construction halted on the Chicago Spire, skyline wags already have started making sport of the giant hole from which architect Santiago Calatrava's twisting, 2,000-foot-tall tower is (or was) supposed to rise.

Might the hole, 76 feet deep by 110 feet wide, be filled with water and become the world's deepest swimming pool? Perhaps demonic sports federation directors would threaten to send losers in Olympic swimming races there, forcing them to backstroke in circles for the rest of their lives.

Kim Metcalfe, a spokeswoman for Spire developer Garrett Kelleher, insists that work on the skyscraper will resume, though she won't say when. If the Spire doesn't get built, experts sketch out three scenarios that a developer could follow: 1) Ignore what's on the 2.2-acre site now and build something different; 2) Pour a thick concrete mat over the Spire's caissons, which ring the hole, and use them to support a typical, right-angled skyscraper; 3) Use the caissons to hold up a shorter, cylinder-shaped skyscraper. Instead of the Spire, it could be called the Spud.

Let's hear your ideas on what to do with the great Chicago Spire hole.

October 18, 2008

The Chicago Spire's penthouse may be sold but there is growing doubt whether the project will rise out of the hole that's been created at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive.

Consultants on the project are starting to line up seeking payment for their work on the development, designed to become the tallest skyscraper in the United States and one of the tallest in the world. The most well-known of the consultants, architect Santiago Calatrava, filed a lien on Oct. 8 through his Lente Festina Ltd., seeking more than $11.3 million in payment from Spire developer Shelbourne Development Group Inc.

Separately, Chicago-based architectural design firm Perkins+Will Inc. filed a lien against Shelbourne for almost $4.85 million in payment. The two liens were filed with the Cook County recorder of deeds.

The liens suggest the project's financing, as well as its feasibility, is shaky.

Reached at the family's home in New York, Calatrava's wife, Tina, declined to comment. Perkins+Will did not return phone calls for comment.

A spokeswoman for Irish developer Garrett Kelleher said the firm knew that the liens were coming and continued to have dialogues with the companies. However, Shelbourne disagrees with the amount the firms say they are due.

"These guys have been paid well," said spokeswoman Kim Metcalfe. "It's clearly a four-year project. The project payment and delivery is over that four years. The amounts are under dispute."

October 17, 2008

The Chicago Spire is back in the news, and not for selling another of its expensive condos.

There are new questions about whether the skyscraper, which would become the tallest building in America, is going to get built.

A firm associated with project architect Santiago Calatrava has filed a lien with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds against developer Shelbourne Development Group Inc., saying he is owed $11.3 million on the project. Separately, architectural firm Perkins+Will has filed a lien seeking $4.8 million in payment.

The developers of the Spire, 400 N. Lake Shore Drive, have said more than 30 percent of the units in the 2,000-foot-tall building are sold, but they also have acknowledged being in a "slowing-down phase," and the site has been quiet.

October 01, 2008

Just a week after Donald Trump was in town, shedding crocodile tears at the demise of American supertall skyscrapers (except for his own, of course), there's a sign of life for the Chicago Spire, the under-construction 2,000-foot-tall tower designed by Santiago Calatrava.

Both Chicago dailies are reporting that Ty Warner, the Beanie Babies magnate, has signed a deal for the Spire's ultra-expensive penthouse.

At the same time, though, project spokeswoman Kim Metcalfe says that turbulence in the credit markets has forced construction to slow. The developer, Garrett Kelleher, still is aiming for completion in 2012.

September 10, 2008

Before you go up, you go down. An aerial picture by Tribune photographer Zbigniew Bzdak reveals construction progress on the 2.2-acre site of the planned 2,000-foot Chicago Spire condominium tower, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and located just north of the Chicago River. Plans call for the skyscraper’s concrete core to emerge out of the circular hole, which is 76 feet deep and 110 feet across.

To see the most recent renderings of the project, which would be the tallest building in America, click here. They're far more persuasive than the cartoonish drawings of the skyscraper that were released last year when the Chicago City Council approved the project.

Plans call for the tower to come out of the ground in mid-2009--a timetable that only will become credible once developer Garrett Kelleher announces he's hired a contractor to build the Spire's superstructure. Has he? “We have not, but that is coming soon,” promises Kim Metcalfe, a spokeswoman for Kelleher's company, Shelbourne Development.

While the new renderings may not convert skeptics who doubt Kelleher can pull off this project amid an economic downturn, they show as never before the power and poetry of Calatrava's plan for the twisting tower. And they suggest, in this ever-shrinking world, where dazzling images fly across the Web at breakneck speed, that the Spire eventually will be built somewhere--in Shanghai or Dubai, if not in Chicago.

June 04, 2008

I feel a little bit like Harry Caray this morning, back in the day when the late Cubs announcer would exclaim "It might be, it could be...." as a well-hit ball arched through the air toward--and, perhaps, over--the vines at Wrigley Field.

The reason I feel this way has nothing to do with the Cubs winning their ninth straight game last night in San Diego, but rather a report in today's Tribune business section which says that the developer of the Chicago Spire is claiming that he has sold 30 percent of the condo units in the 150-story, Santiago Calatrava-designed tower.

This marks the first time that the developer, Garrett Kelleher, has provided a hard number on sales rather than teasing us along with hints of progress about the twisting skyscraper, which would be the world's tallest all-residential building. Real estate experts quoted by Tribune real estate reporter Robert Manor say the 30 percent figure traditionally would have met lenders' requirements for construction financing, but they aren't so sure in this troubled real estate market. (Kelleher has also released a video about building the Spire, which is now posted in the video library of this blog).

May 24, 2008

The developer of the Chicago Spire is almost midway through an elaborate international road show, hoping to import buyers for what would be the world's loftiest residential building.

While the U.S. housing market is at low ebb, and a credit crisis has made money scarce for many big projects, international investors represent a potential source of prospects for the high-profile Spire, especially because a weak dollar creates a lower purchase price for buyers paying in many foreign currencies, real estate experts say.

Salespeople are visiting potential buyers from Dublin and Singapore to Moscow and Seoul, people involved with the Chicago Spire say. And celebrity architect Santiago Calatrava sometimes meets with individuals interested in living in a building 2,000 feet tall.

The Spire's developers are advertising around the world in publications ranging from The New Yorker magazine to the South China Morning Post newspaper.

The foundation for the building is nearly complete, but there's a long way to go before the structure is complete. The sorry state of the real estate market in the U.S. raises big questions about whether Garrett Kelleher and his Ireland-based Shelbourne Development Group Inc. made the right decision when they boldly decided to enter an overbuilt condominium market at the very top end. Studio units are priced at $750,000 or more, for example.